Upscale London is waging war on towers as new apartments and nursery are stranded

The plans for huge towers above London’s leafy Kingston neighborhood have infuriated local residents.
Plans to raze a crèche on Cromwell Road and replace it with a seven-story apartment building, including a new nursery and community center, was pushed back by city council due to a lack of affordable housing.
Residents also said the building’s ladder would block their view, create “a serious sense of oppression” and invade their privacy.
Previously, the council’s plans for huge new towers that would overlook the leafy part of London were leaked by a Tory adviser.
The footage was leaked on Twitter by local Conservative council leader Kevin Davis, who said Kingston had “enough” of taller buildings in the city center.
(Image: provided by Kevin Davis)
But the council fought back, saying the footage had not been shared with the public because those are not the plans it wants to deliver.
Opposing plans for the Cromwell Road nursery, a resident told the Kingston council planning committee on Wednesday evening: “The height of the building and the mass of the development do not suit the urban context, creating a sense of oppression severe for neighboring properties. ”
The resident added: “With the proposed height and development, the large number of apartments facing our kitchen, living space, bedrooms and gardens, especially on the north side of the street, deprives us of access to the sky. .”
Developer Aroch Limited said in the planning documents: “This is a great opportunity to regenerate this ‘lackluster’ city center site that has been intended for redevelopment and in doing so improve the local environment by integrating it more effectively into its environment.
“This proposal is for a residential development incorporating an improved nursery school including flexible and fully accessible community space and will create the highest quality residential units by all current / new standards, in this extremely accessible and sustainable location – taking care of respect the approval of its neighbors. “
Only 13 apartments would be affordable (21%) in the now deferred plans.

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Liberal Democrat Councilor Olly Wehring said: “I am extremely disappointed with the number of affordable three-bed units in this request.
“I strongly urge the applicant to consider sacrificing some of the affordable one-bed units, or maybe even the middle two-bed units to give us more three-bed units, as this is where the absolute need for housing is. affordable is.
“I am very disappointed with the numbers here and also with the low percentage of the total building.”
Kevin Davis, the leader of the Conservative opposition group, had previously said: “I think we have reached the point where we have enough taller buildings in the city center.
“I don’t sense the public’s appetite for more and I want us to protect the best that we haven’t wasted our heritage on the altar of tall buildings.”